Abstract
ABSTRACT Yersinia enterocolitica is a bacterium with zoonotic potential and there are no previous records of this bacteria being isolated from aborted foals. This report aims to describe a case of sepsis due to Y. enterocolitica in a seven month old aborted equine. The fequinoetus was submitted to necropsy and samples of all the organs were collected for the histological exam. Samples of liver, lung, placenta, and stomach contents were collected for bacterial culture. Macroscopically, the liver was enlarged with yellowish heterogeneous color, heart with pale myocardial areas; lungs not collapsed, heavy and shiny, thickened umbilical cord covered with fibrin and pus. Histopathologically, there was moderate multifocal necrosuppurative myocarditis and thrombosis, moderate diffuse suppurative bronchopneumonia, mild multifocal fibrinonecrotic hepatitis, and moderate diffuse necrosuppurative omphalitis with intralesional bacterial myriads and thrombosis. Mild multifocal suppurative placentitis, nephritis, myositis, cystitis, and dermatitis were also observed, in addition to mild diffuse lymphoid rarefaction. The microbiological evaluation identified Y. enterocolitica in the liver, lung, and stomach fluid. This is the first report of sepsis due to Y. enterocolitica causing an abortion in a horse. This bacterium has zoonotic importance; therefore, it should be investigated in abortion in this species, serving as a differential diagnosis in reproductive disorders.
Highlights
Abortion and neonatal death are important factors in economic losses in equine breeding
Yersinia enterocolitica is a gram-negative bacterium of the Enterobacteriaceae family, considered an important pathogen responsible for causing gastrointestinal and septicemic disorders in several species, including humans (Platt-Samoraj et al, 2010; Sauter et al, 2017)
Yersinia enterocolitica was the species most frequently identified among humans with yersiniosis, being described mainly in large outbreaks related to food contamination, including fatal cases (The European..., 2012; Longenberger et al, 2013)
Summary
Abortion and neonatal death are important factors in economic losses in equine breeding. As a primarily intestinal pathogen, the information described in the literature is related to microbiological isolation from organs of the gastrointestinal tract or feces, information about the injuries caused by this agent in other organs is very limited (Oellerich et al, 2007) This bacterium has been isolated in cases of abortion in buffaloes, sheep, and pigs (Das et al, 1986; Corbel et al, 1992; Platt- Samoraj et al, 2009). The other mare on the property who had a reproductive disorder, primiparous, aborted at seven months of gestation in September of the same year, without showing any clinical changes, but the fetus and placenta were not recovered for anatomopathological analysis, making the definitive etiological diagnosis impossible. The liver showed discrete multifocal fibrinoid necrosis associated with moderate infiltration of neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes and plasma cells. In the biochemical identification of the pure culture growth, Y. enterocolitica was observed in the liver, lungs and stomach fluid
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